Mario Kart 9 (Polar)
'''Mario Kart 9 '''is the ninth main instalment in the Mario Kart series, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch. The game returns to its old logo from Mario Kart 64 to Mario Kart DS. Glider sections, underwater sections and anti-gravity sections all return with new 'zoom' sections, where your kart or bike temporarily grows wings and you can glide for longer, and 'sledge' sections, where your kart or bike sort of forms a sledge which makes it easier and quicker to go downhill. Mario Kart DS' mission mode returns but is reworked to have a storyline and other new gimmicks. A track creator is also present, allowing people to draw out there own courses and fill in scenes with pre-made obstacles, colours, backgrounds and more. Gameplay Grand Prix Grand Prix mode has been barely touched since the previous game except Mirror Mode is now in 200cc. Time Trials Time Trials has been barely touched since the previous game. VS Race VS Race is almost identical to the VS race in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe except you can now enter the number of races you want to do, with the highest amount of races being 96. Battle Mode Battle Mode has a huge difference from the average Mario Kart battle mode: there are now Battle Mode cups. The cups work very similar to the Grand Prix mode. Instead of speed classes (which are always 100cc) are the types of Battle Mode. Battle courses can still be played in a similar fashion as to how it was in the previous races with the only changes being that you can change the speed class and input the amount of races you want, with the highest being 24. The battle options are as follow. *Balloon Battle - Identical to its appearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe *Shine Thief - Identical to its appearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe *Bob-omb Blast - Identical to its appearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe *Coin Runners - Identical to its appearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe *Renegade Roundup - Identical to its appearance in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe *Thundercloud Elimination - This option sees the return of the thundercloud item from Mario Kart Wii. Item boxes only give out thunderclouds (which are exclusive to this option) and players must pass them on. Whoever becomes the victim of the cloud and gets hit by the thunder is eliminated. The winner is the last racer standing. If the timer runs out and there are still some racers left, the winner/s is the one/s who has/ve collected the most thunderclouds without facing the effects. Mission Mode Mission Mode is very similar to the mode in Mario Kart DS except it has been given a story which follows the Koopalings being angered by not being invited to the Grand Prix and trapping some of the racers (which means they can be unlocked) and only setting them free in they are defeated in a Boss Battle. There are five levels, each ending with a boss battle with two koopalings, save for the last which has only one. Track Creator The track creator allows players to draw out race courses in a similar fashion to Diddy Kong Racing DS but Mario Kart 9 also allows players to decorate them by colouring in and creating track pieces and obstacles or adding in pre-set colours and obstacles. Courses are saved into two cups (Custom Cup A and Custom Cup B) and can be played in VS mode but all courses but be completed using Mario in the standard kart on 200cc before being saved, uploaded and being able to be played online. Online Multiplayer Characters Default Toad SM64S.png|Toad (Light) Toadette SM64S.png|Toadette (Light) Goombansmbw.png|Goomba (light) BabyMarioSluggers.PNG|Baby Mario (light) Babypeach.png|Baby Peach (light) CappyOpdysseyHalved.png|Cappy (light) Mario MPR-0.png|Mario (medium) LuigiSR.png|Luigi (medium) 105px-YoshiMPIT.png|Yoshi (medium) PeachMK8.png|Peach (medium) Princess Daisy Caitlin.png|Daisy (medium) Mona New Render.png|Mona (medium) Mayor Pauline.png|Pauline (cruiser) Waluigi SM64S.png|Waluigi (cruiser) Character2-DonkeyKong.png|Donkey Kong (cruiser) DKjr.png|Donkey Kong Jr. (cruiser) MLPJKingBoo.png|King Boo (cruiser) Rosalina MK7.png|Rosalina (cruiser) 555px-FortuneStBowser.png|Bowser (heavy) Wario SM64S.png|Wario (heavy) WartUNCHAINED.png|Wart (heavy) Antasma .png|Antasma (heavy) MLPJKingBobomb.png|King Bob-omb Cackletta.png|Cackletta (heavy) Unlockable BooMKH.png|Boo (light) Peepa MPSR.png|Peppa (light) BiddybudEJ.png|Biddybug (light) ACL - SSBSwitch recolour - Luma 2.png|Luma (light) MKDX Green Koopa Troopa.png|Koopa Troopa (light) 73px-Toadsworth artwork -- Super Mario Sunshine.png|Toadsworth (light) Whittle.gif|Whittle (light) ShyguyCTTT.png|Shy Guy (light) 92px-Spike - Mario Party 10.png|Spike (light) Ninji SMR.png|Ninji (light) Goombario.gif|Goombario (light) GreenSprixie.png|Sprixie Princess (light) BabyWario.png|Baby Wario (medium) DiddyKong2.png|Diddy Kong (medium) DixieKong.png|Dixie Kong (medium) BowserJrNSMB.png|Bowser Jr. (medium) Egadd.png.png|Prof. E. Gadd (medium) BiS Fawful solo.png|Fawful (medium) Birdo-2.png|Birdo (medium) 593px-BoomBoomSM3DL.png|Boom Boom (medium) PomPomElementalChaos.png|Pom Pom (medium) Kamek MGGT.png|Kamek (medium) Nabbit, New Super Mario Bros. U.png|Nabbit (medium) Dreambert-M&LDT.png|Dreambert (medium) TinyKongMSSsmall.png|Tiny Kong (cruiser) 540px-Funky Kong Artwork - Tropical Freeze.png|Funky Kong (cruiser) Lanky.png|Lanky Kong (cruiser) Chunky Kong WoD.png|Chunky Kong (cruiser) Captain Syrup New Render.png|Captain Syrup (cruiser) 543px-MarioSuperSluggersPianta.png|Pianta (cruiser) DrMario-MP11.png|Dr. Mario (cruiser) Penguin (1).png|Penguin (cruiser) 180px-Lubba.png|Lubba (cruiser) winfged.png|Winged Yoshi (cruiser) HammerBrotherMP8.png|Hammer Bro. (cruiser) CharginChuck.png|Chargin' Chuck (cruiser) WhompKing SM64S.png|Whomp (heavy) 120px-Petey Piranha - Mario Party- Star Rush.png|Petey Piranha (heavy) KINGKROOL.png|King K. Rool (heavy) HoneyQueenOrochiOmega.png|Honey Queen (heavy) Plessiee.png|Plessie (heavy) NSMBDorrie.png|Dorrie (heavy) TrexSGY.png|Dinosaur (heavy) 215px-18-volt-0.png|18-Volt (heavy) Tutankoopa.gif|Tutankoopa (heavy) 200px-CountBleck2 SPM.png|Count Bleck (heavy) MLSSBowletta.png|Bowletta (heavy) FirstFormSmithy.gif|Smithy (heavy) Rabbid Peach - RabbidsKingdomBattle.png|Rabbid (medium) ???.jpg|Mii (varies) Rivals Rivals return in a similar way to Mario Kart 7. Rival 1 is the character's top competitor and always appears in races and Rival 2 is the second to competitor, also always appearing in races. Rival 3 takes the place of either of them if one of them needs to be unlocked. Courses Additionally, you can create up to eight courses in the track creator which are saved in Custom Cup A and Custom Cup B. Descriptions *Mushroom Stadium - A simple oval-shapped racing stadium with no gimmicks except a glider ramp that opens up near the finish line on the final lap. *Goomba Plains - The course takes place in a meadow with goombas everywhere, serving as obstacles. It's a simple course with a river, that serves as an underwater section, and a glider section where you can get gusts of air from warp pipes. *Cheep Cheep Aquarium - An aquarium, as the name implies, where you enter through the doors and make your way to a glass tunnel, which is in anti-gravity, where you can see cheep-cheeps and other fishes swimming around you. At the end of the tunnel, you continue in anti-gravity into the fishdome which was just around you and you can choose for this part of the course to be an underwater section or a 'zoom' section/underwater section. You then make your way out through the fire exit and onto lap two. *Super Bell Hill - A hill based on the first level from Super Mario 3D World. Racers make their way up the hill and glide down it for a bit until it turns into a 'sledge' section. Super Bell Hill is obviously re-worked into a race course. This course has five laps, as opposed to three as it is so short. *Mario Circuit - The course is loosely based on SNES Mario Circuit but looks more or less like Wii Mario Circuit and obviously follows a slightly different route. This course has the most ramps out any other course in the series. Mario Circuit is set right next to Peach's Castle. The course includes glider sections and 'zoom' sections. *Wiggler Forest - A thin and narrow forest where wigglers roam around freely, sometimes blocking off the racers' path in a similar fashion to N64 Kalamari Desert. A small lake is present making an underwater section. *Toad Town - Toad Town is a race course that takes place in a village full of Toads, except the race takes place on the houses' rooftops. The race starts with a 'zoom' section before racers land on either one of two opposite roofs and continue to race upon them in a loop before gliding down to the finish line (the 'zoom' section is only on lap one). Sometimes the houses get close to eachother so you can jump across sides. Most of the course is in anti-gravity. *Peach's Castle - A course that mostly takes place in Peach's Castle. Racers start in the lobby-like area and race up the stairs and through the different rooms until gliding off the balcony and landing in the garden where racers drive through a water fountain and a duck pond until re-entering through the front. The last lap has the players 'zoom' off the balcony. *Sarasaland Desert - A simple desert course based on Sarasaland (Daisy's kingdom) with pokeys as obstacles. There are glider shortcuts and an anti-gravity section through a deserted temple. A 'sledge' section takes place in the final stretch to the finish line. *Petey's Ice Land - This course is loosely based off the ice world from New Super Mario Bros. (for the DS). The course begins in an underwater section in a freezing cold ocean before racers back their way into a N64 Frappe Snowland-like enviroment where ice piranha plants spit out ice balls. No other gimmicks occur (besides the snowmen obstacles) except the 'zoom' section in section three. It is a one-lap course divided into three sections. *Underworld Raceway - A course based on the underworld sections of the Mario platformers and the Mario Bros. arcade game. The course begins as you enter a pipe (an underater section) to the underworld where you must glide off pipes in this anti-gravity filled underworld full of Koopa Troopas, Goombas and spinies. *Yoshi's Island - A course based on the Yoshi games is a whole 'zoom' section where you start by 'sledging' down a mountain and onto the island where you enter jungles and drive past a giant Yoshi eggs which hatches on the final lap into a giant Yoshi which shoots fireballs at the players but these can easily be dodged as the players are flying. *Wii Luigi Circuit - This track hasn't changed much since its debut, all that has been added is a glider ramp near the finish line and a weather change on the final lap: it starts raining. This weather change also causes some brief underwater sections. *3DS Daisy Hills - Daisy Hills now takes place at night. The course also gains an underwater section at the first turn, eventually leading to a bridge which takes you up to the hill. To get to the glider section, you must pass a 'sledge' section. It is worth mentioning the hill has an anti-gravity section. *GBA Riverside Park - Riverside Park has been given, to a lesser extent, a Ribbon Road-style remake. A lot of parts of the track are on a slope which makes for glider and brief 'sledge' sections. At least half of the track leading up to the first boost is underwater. The boost section is now a gilder section which leads on to an anti-gravity section which is what most of the rest of the course is. The second boost is also a glider section but turns into a 'zoom' section on the final lap. The cows, or 'moo moos', from Mario Kart Wii's Moo Moo Meadows appear as obstacles. Going beneath the first boost section is also now in a tunnel. *SNES Bowser Castle - The course is pretty much the same but it has been redesigned so everything looks more like an actual castle, with N64 Bowser Castle being used as the inspiration. Due to this, there are some anti-gravity sections on the walls and an underwater section through a hot water lake as you exit the castle close to the finish line, ready to re-enter it for the next lap. *SNES Vanillia Lake 2 - The course now takes place in the middle of a snowland with some of the courses being ice and some being snow. The ice begins to melt as the course progresses, making underwater sections. All warp pipes have been replaced with snowmen. *Wii Toad's Factory - Not much has changed except anti-gravity sections have been added, as well as two glider sections (one when you first leave the factory area and one replacing the mud part entirely) and a 'zoom' section near the exit closest to the finish line. *Wii U Twisted Mansion - The course is nearly identical to its Wii U counterpart. The biggest differences are in the courtyard. When you glide out you also now have an option to either simply drop to the floor or 'zoom' across. If you pick to glide, you can now trick off the boos present. The only other difference is the 'sledge' section down to the finish line. *DS Shroom Ridge - The course now takes place at night and there are now more tunnels which serve as anti-gravity sections. There is also a 'sledge' section down to the finish line. Additionally, it can clearly be seen that you drive past Baby Park at some point. *Wii DK Snowboard Cross - Brief water sections have been added along with and optional glider section across the shortcuts. The whole course (apart from the finish/starting line itself) is in anti-gravity and a 'sledge' section takes place in order to get to the finish line. All tricks that could previously be done in Mario Kart Wii can be done here, unlike the Mario Kart Wii courses in Mario Kart 7. *GBA Rainbow Road - Again, it has been given a Ribbon Road-style remake with the whole course taking place in anti-gravity and a 'zoom' section has been added where some main road has been deleted. GBA Rainbow Road now takes place underwater too. Ludwig can be seen in his clown car throwing bob-ombs on the track. *GPDX Sky Arena - As the game's first track taken from the arcade games made by NAMCO, the course has been barely touched upon so players who haven't played the arcade games can know its source material. The only change is the inclusion of anti-gravity in some sections. *3DS Alpine Pass - The course starts with an anti-gravity section which ends at the the first glider section which is now a three-gimmick ramp with the player being given the choice to glide, 'zoom' or simply drop down. If the play chooses to drop down, the small stretch to the hill is a 'sledge' section before turning back into an anti-gravity section up the hill. The glider section past the finish line still remains. *DS Mario Circuit - DS Mario Circuit isn't played around with too much but some of the roads have been stretched and the piranha plant near the pipe with the shortcut has been replaced with a chain chomp and there is a ramp behind it. The last stretch to the finish line is now a 'sledge' section and another piranha plant has been added on the final turn. *N64 Wario Stadium - The course has been tweaked to be more like the remakes of GCN Waluigi Stadium and DS Wario Stadium. N64 Wario Stadium is now more of a dirt bike track with underwater, anti-gravity and glider sectons placed in a similar fashion to the DS Wario Stadium on the Wii U. A 'zoom' section has also been added in a similar style to that remake, at one turn then a straight path before turning again where it ends. It is worth noting the shortcut glitch has been removed. *GBA Lakeside Park - The changes to this course are similar to GBA Riverside Park (read that description and most of the stuff there applies here). Besides that, the volcano erupts lap two which means it spits lava on teh track which must be avoided before the course is completely covered lap three where there is a 'zoom' section for the whole lap. There is also a 'sledge' section down one of the slopes. Battle Courses Descriptions DLC Mario Kart 9 X Kirby Characters Kirby New Render.png|Kirby (light) Dedede KRTDLrender1.png|King Dedede (heavy) YoshiKid-SPM.png|Yoshi Kid (light) Courses Mario Kart 9 X F-Zero, Pikimin & Pokémon Mario Kart 9: Character Pack